A Decent But Affordable Ww Album

As I mentioned in some of my earlier posts, I plan on restarting a WW collection. I've got a nice "Frankenalbum" set at home in the US consisting of a Harris Statesman Album squeezed into 2 Citation binders. I never bought any of the updates, preferring to make my own pages. It makes it that much more enjoyable for me.
As money and quality are definite issues, which album would you recommend? I realize that Harris has gone to a 2 volume Statesman. The Mystic album is also 2 volumes. Has anyone got experience with the Mystic album?

Good Morning, There have been over a million different worldwide postage stamps printed...my worldwide collection only goes to 1969 and thats 8 fat Scott International binders...probably the way to go for worldwide collectors in this day and age is to print your own pages or use plastic stockpages..i do not see how someone could do justice to to collecting the world in two albums..you would need an awful lot of blank pages..i am sure there is a solution for you !

You can get the whole world for $30 from William Steiner. All you have to do is print them...

And you simply MUST learn to use the SCF search function

https://goscf.com/t/11268

KirkS

I've never really given much thought to printing my own pages. That sounds intriguing. Now, to find archival type acid-free paper that's cut a bit thicker than office a-4. I'm sure normal A4 would do just as well but I don't know how long it would stand up to the stress of hinges and mounts.

Most of us would recommend a laser printer, but several folks use InkJet.

Standard "copier" paper is 20lb and too thin for practical use. When you get up to about 60 or 80lb, you're in the right neighborhood. Think "card stock" when you shop.

Most all paper is "acid-free" these days. Use the search button above to look for LINGEN. There are several discussions about paper selection for printing your own pages.

KirkS

Don't get me wrong: Printing your own album pages is great, as you can selectively print exactly what you want to meet your collecting interests and/or stamps on hand.

...BUT...

One must remember that is can be a great deal more costly to print your own album pages if you have any expectation of doing it for worldwide stamps or even for larger regions of the world. When you start getting into subscriptions to album page websites, acid-free/lignin-free card stock paper and laser printer supplies (i.e. toner and developer) and binders and punching or inserting pages into page protectors and add it all up, if you plan on printing more than a couple hundred pages, the cost to buy a preprinted album is often the better deal.

Of course, it all depends on what you collect and how detailed you want to be in printing album pages for each country. I do know that most collectors prefer uniformity, so your decision should be made early-on so that you don't waste time and money preparing pages one way and then have to move the stamps if you decide to change methods later on.

Since you'll need multiple albums anyway, I think that I'd personally go with a decent (not necessarily expensive) worldwide album of one or two volumes for the common material or for stamps that you modestly collect and then print my own album pages for specialized countries or regions that I take a special interest in.

Do what works best for you, as there are no right or wrong answers.

WT1 for me this brings up an interesting question..if I knew then what I know now would I have stayed with worldwide or worked on collections individually as I do now..we all have a learning period and mine WAS VERY LONG !

I thought I'd still buy the WW album and use the printed pages for countries that I'm thinking of specializing in. I can't see shelling out big bucks for a country album to lug it back to the desert with me. The cheaper WW albums like Harris don't need to be supplemented and I can make my own pages. Maybe I can even find a place here to make me some knockoff quadrilled pages.

For a "cheap" one volume solution for a world wide collection, the Scott International part I volume can be bought for not much on ebay. Covers 1840-1940, the "classical " era. The 1969 edition is good. The 1997 edition that Amos advantage sells is just a stretched out version of the '69.

Jim Jackson

Jkblue you are right...you can pick up a scott international used on ebay at a reasonable price..they are ok until you get serious on a area and find out how many stamps and sets they leave out..at my stamp club they can not give an album without stamps away...someone brings in an international album WITH A GREAT BINDER and asks 5 dollars for it and ends up taking it back home !!

Philb, you of course are right that if one gets interested in a specialty country or area, the Scott International part I won't cut it. But as a general album for a world wide classic collection, it's not bad. It does provide for 35,000 spaces out of a total of 90,000 ever issued prior to 1940. The emphasis because of it's legacy as. "Junior" album is the more affordable stamps. Perfect if one would like a representative world wide classic collection and your name is not Bill Gates. :-)

Jim Jackson

Can't say I've used this album, but I am quite fond of the Mystic Heirloom US Album.

Mystic Voyager 2 volume world wide album:

http://www.mysticstamp.com/viewProd...sp?sku=DS380

Jim Jackson..i prefer Bill Gross (Pimco) to Bill Gates..at least hes a stamp collector...i have specialized country albums by Davo and Minkus and Scott...and not one of them is perfect either !

One consideration with the Bill Steiner pages. You can buy a CD-ROM with all of the pages and then print them out whenever you want to, i.e. you're not locked into a yearly subscription fee. I don't really collect much WW after 1990, so don't need the yearly updates at $30/year. If I ever do expand to post-1990, I can always renew my subscription and print out what I need.

So, there are ways to limit your costs with self-printing and/or stretch out your costs over time. I read about one collector who filled a number of file cabinets with the Steiner pages. He had used his employer's laser printer and purchased his own 60-lb. paper stock. He printed out all of the pages over the course of a couple of weeks. Now, this is a bit extreme in my view and I am not suggesting that you use your employer's resources unless you have their permission. I just print what I need as I go.

As with any tool or resource, YMMV.

I've been using a laser printer at home for my personal needs. Laser toner is dirt cheap when you consider that a $30 cartridge can print 5,000-10,000 pages with 5% coverage. I've been using a Brother HL-1440 for about ten years and I think I've paid more for my paper than the toner. (OK, every now and then you have to replace the drum, which costs a little more than the toner cartridge, but the drum is rated at 20,000 pages with 5% coverage.)

The CD for $30 sounds like a good deal.

The Steiner computer- printer generated pages are indeed very nice. If one doesn't mind 10 feet of shelf space-or more-for WW collection; and one doesn't mind printing out the pages, it really is a great choice. I seriously considered that, and even printed out some countries. But if one would rather have a pre printed " one volume" solution (1840-1940), and would like a general collection without spaces for high catalogue value stamps, the Scott International part I is a good choice IMHO.

Jim Jackson